A couple of weeks ago, Rachel did an awesome writeup of wine pairings for vegetarian meals. Why not really get your veg on and make sure your wine pairing is vegetarian, too?
Wait…vegetarian wine? But wine is made of grapes! True, but like white sugar, wine can go through some processing that involves animal products. With wine, the troublesome ingredients come into play during the “finishing,” or the steps that stop the fermentation. The animal-based fining agents are:
- casein – a milk protein
- isinglass – made from fish bladders
- gelatin – made from cow bones
- animal albumin – egg whites and sometimes dried blood powder
Not all wines even require fining, and there are vegetarian clarifying options, like bentonite clay. Luckily, there are loads of companies that keep the animal products out of the finishing process. Here is a great list for tracking down a vegetarian bottle!
Of course, if you want to be really certain that wine is animal free, you can always make your own bottle.
[Image Credit: Red Red Wine. Creative Commons photo by jimmyroq]
Wine certainly is a product that can be drunk without unnecessary additions. Drinking wine without these ingredients is a lot healthier and the subtle taste of wine does not change either.
And as mentioned in the article, not even all wines need fining.
For additional information on green products, have a look at this Green Publication.
Huh. Who knew? Thanks for the information Becky!
No problem, Robin! I was pretty surprised myself! And maybe a little grossed out…dried blood powder? I can’t imagine being OK with that in my wine, even if I weren’t vegan!